Gory greetings horroryearbook alumni! Welcome to another exciting edition of IT CAME FROM THE MAILBOX, an exciting column where your old pal Brain Hammer reviews whatever random crap the good folks at horroryearbook decide to throw my way.

Another day, another e-mail from Molly. This time around she sent me a list of flicks that needed reviewing. When I said I would be interested in watching B.T.K., she replied with “I knew you would want to watch that one.” Apparently I’m the resident serial killer fanatic. I’m also a rape and torture enthusiast, so a horror flick based on the crimes of Dennis Rader should be right up my alley.

Dennis Rader was a Wichita Kansas serial killer who claimed ten victims between 1974 and 1991. From all outside appearances, Dennis Rader was a perfectly normal happily married man who served his community as both a compliance officer and a Cub Scout leader. He was even elected president of his Lutheran church congregation council. But behind Rader’s mask of sanity there lurked a monster with the twisted urge to bind, torture, and kill his female victims.

Michael Feifer’s latest direct to video serial killer opus – B.T.K., provides a fictionalized take on Rader’s crimes and eventual capture. The camera follows Rader as he goes about his daily business as an obnoxious compliance officer. Rader roams the suburbs of Wichita looking for minor zoning infractions such as obstructed sidewalks, unleashed puppies, and lawns that need mowing. His numerous run-ins with angry housewives fuel his hatred for women and also provide him with perfect potential victims. When darkness falls, Rader leaves his unsuspecting wife and children behind and lets his murderous fantasies become a gruesome reality.

The one and only Kane Hodder has the leading role in B.T.K. Hodder is best known as a stunt man, and for playing Jason Vorhees in the four worst Friday The 13th flicks ever made. In recent years, Kane has lost his trademark hockey mask and started working full time as an actor. Hodder has appeared in films since 1983, when he first lit up the screen as “Goon” in the Chuck Norris epic “Lone Wolf McQuade.” Some of his more memorable early acting roles include “Thug,” “Older Geek,” and “Neo-Nazi Gunman.” More recently, Kane starred as both a monster and the monster’s father in the inexplicably popular “Hatchet,” and played the lead role in Micheal Feifer’s “Ed Gein: Butcher Of Plainfield.”

I have to admit, I was less than impressed with Kane’s portrayal of Ed Gein. Kane is much too big of a man for the role and his acting primarily consisted of grimaces and blank stares. I was hopeful that his performance as Dennis Rader would be more convincing. It doesn’t hurt that Kane is a dead ringer for Rader when he sports the mustache and glasses. I’m happy to say that Kane stepped his game up considerably this time around. His turn as Rader is chillingly dead on. Kane carries the movie from start to finish and shows some decent range as an actor as his character pretends to be normal and then turns savage. Kane also gets ample opportunity to do what he does best – kill people.

For better or worse, writer and director Michael Feifer is never content to merely tell the real life stories of the serial killers he immortalizes. Feifer loves to expand upon the stories and make them even more graphic and lurid. That explains why we get to see Kane Hodder as Dennis Rader stalking after a hooker that robbed him and killing another victim by driving a shovel into her abdomen. There’s also some unintentional hilarity provided by a ridiculous scene where Rader smacks a girl in the head with a crowbar in broad daylight on a busy street, stashes her in his van, and then turns around and has a polite conversation with his minister.

That scene, and another scene where Rader avoids capture by turning a cop into mincemeat are my biggest complaints about this film and the other serial killer epics that Feifer has written and directed. I don’t understand why Feifer feels it necessary to fictionalize stories that are already terrifying. An accurate depiction of Rader’s crimes and motivations would have been much scarier than anything that Feifer could dream up. B.T.K. would have been a much better film if it stayed more faithful to the subject material. The film has a semi-documentary feel, and I think the odd, out of place dramatic elements that Feifer adds to the mix stand out in a bad way.

It’s also worth mentioning that the acting in this film is fairly wretched. Believe it or not, Kane Hodder actually turns in the best performance by far. The supporting cast is pretty bad. The biggest offenders are the actresses that play Rader’s wife and daughters. Amy Lyndon does her best movie of the week housewife impression, including a teary breakdown where she sobs to police officers about what a good man her husband is. The end of the film degenerates into a rather mediocre family drama that features one of those cliched mother/daughter arguments that is punctuated with a face slap. The worst actress of the bunch is definitely young Dru Ashcroft. That chick can not act to save her life, and her stone faced, deer in the headlights reaction to discovering her father is a serial killer was laughably pathetic. I’m guessing this will be the first in a series of one movies that she appears in, although she is good for comic relief.

Overall, I thought this flick was ok. Minor complaints about the acting and storyline aside, this was still a decent serial killer flick. I enjoyed it considerably more than “Ed Gein: Butcher Of Plainfield” and other direct to video dreck like “Raising Jeffrey Dahmer.” People looking for an accurate depiction of Dennis Rader’s life and crimes should look elsewhere, but less discriminating murder junkies and Kane Hodder fans will probably enjoy this. Lionsgate Entertainment will unleash B.T.K. on dvd 05/12/2009.

KEEP THE BLOOD FLOWING!!!